Sun-n-Fun 2009 Recap

Sun & Fun 2009 was an interesting event. Attendance seemed light, particularly as concerns the larger-dollar buyer-attendees. Overall, there were some big-ticket spenders in attendance earlier in the week, but the mornings were slow - and this is generally when we see the big-ticket spenders (new aircraft buyers). Later in the day, as the public and general aviation enthusiasts entered the show, many of the support services and support products saw increased traffic (i.e. pilot shops), in building to the afternoon show.

The weather was pretty phenomenal, albeit warm (near 90 a few days), but with no rain and lower humidity, it wasn't bad for a late-April dated show.

Piper announced G1000 in their Meridian - a great airplane just got better. The G1000 includes a 15" Multi-Function display (MFD) in the center of the console, with two 10.4 inch displays on each side. The MFD in the center continuously displays engine data, allowing the user to scroll through other screens.

Cirrus discontinued (or postponed) their LSA at Sun N Fun, but had heavy traffic throughout the event. Their sales groups seem to be clicking on all cylinders with above-normal activity.

The Mooney booth was modest given their well publicized factory shutdown, but was very well-traffic'd and displayed a new Mooney Acclaim with an awesome paint scheme - a checkerboard pattern on the nose cowl, wings and tail that represented Mooney's first-place finish in the speed contest.

Cessna had a nice and well-traffic'd booth. It seems like they didn't spare the expenses that were spared by other OEMs. They had their full range of products, and overall a nice and busy display.

Diamond's display highlighted the lycoming-powered DA42 Twin-Star (a long time coming and an engine configuration many are really looking foward to). Diamond had a better booth this year insofar as last year's mud bog had time to dry-out, and their attendance seemend to reflect better this year in part due to the weather. Diamond has a complex situation with their Twin-Star's ongoing development, along with the DA50 and DJet product development, so the booth reflected the "in process" nature of their fleet transformation.

Tiger had a suprising presence at the show - an old aircraft with a proven track record seems to have new legs (or new gear I suppose). They reported that they'll be restarting production in the next 2 months, then hoping to deliver their first aircraft off the new production line in Valdosta, Georgia in late 2009. Amazing to see them back again!

Otherwise, Beechcraft had the nicest booth I've seen them front in nearly a dozen years. They have a different sales approach in 2009 given the dispensation of their dealer network at 2008 year-end, so it's welcome to see the step-up in presentation.

CubCrafters had a nice show- with their new Sport Cub "sporting" a wonderful handcrafted paint scheme with flames along the cowl and airframe - looked awesome. Other LSA OEMs had nice booths as well - Legend Cub with a presentation "font and center" in clear sight of the show, and Flight Design with an always professional and polished presentation. Evektor had a stepped-up presence as well with their new management (the 3rd group in as many years) hoping to bring the aircraft back to the prominence it had when the LSA was first launched a few years ago.